5 top WWE Superstars whose push lasted less than a year

In WWE, there's only a crop of talent every few years who get a consistent and sustained push. It's often cyclical and while not everyone gets to be a top Champion, they certainly get their turn. However, it's not the kind of push that superstars like Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins have gotten - it's the one that seemingly is given to them as a reward for their hard work and the stars aligning at the right time.

Without dragging it much further, let's take a look at five superstars who got pushed for less than a year.

#5. Braun Strowman

Braun Strowman is the classic case of a giant being underutilized or badly booked in WWE. He debuted in 2015 as a part of the Wyatt Family without even having gone through NXT, minus a few live events.

Regardless, he learned on the job and in the summer of 2016, he was separated from the Wyatt Family and given a fresh start as a singles superstar. He spent a few months squashing enhancement talent and low card stars before getting a prominent role in Survivor Series that year. It was only after this where his real push began and in 2017, he would become the hottest superstar in WWE, getting over as a babyface despite being a heel.

However, he was built up only to lose to Brock Lesnar in an underwhelming main event at No Mercy despite looking like the biggest star in the company a month prior at SummerSlam.

While he had a solid babyface push a month after losing to Lesnar, his momentum would be squandered in 2018 in favor of Roman Reigns, leaving Strowman in a weird spot at WrestleMania 34. Now, he continues to get on-and-off pushes.

#4. Jinder Mahal

This one undoubtedly ranks as the most bizarre one on this list. Jinder Mahal was released by WWE in 2014, only to return over two years later. He was right back in his enhancement talent spot, but a major appearance change and improvement in physique, along with a move to SmackDown post-WrestleMania 33 saw him receive the biggest push of his career.

WWE normally takes a long time to build superstars to reach the pinnacle of the sports entertainment industry, but Jinder Mahal's push was abrupt and most certainly unexpected. He lost his SmackDown debut as well, only to win a #1 contender's match and earn a WWE Championship match against Randy Orton at Backlash 2017.

Seeing a low-card enhancement talent become a main eventer in a week didn't go well with the fans, but WWE proved to be committed to Mahal, giving him a PPV main event and a shocking WWE Championship win. He would hold on to the title up until early November in Manchester, ending his reign in just over 170 days. He would have an 8-day United States Championship reign after winning it at WrestleMania 34, but by then, his push was over.

#3. Nia Jax

Nia Jax received a standing ovation at WrestleMania 34

When we say things are cyclical in WWE, this applies none more so than to the Women's division - unless your name is Charlotte Flair. For Nia Jax, her turn would come at WrestleMania 34 in 2018.

She debuted on RAW in 2016, going through a similar process as Braun Strowman by squashing enhancement talent before coming close to a real feud. However, unlike Strowman, she had some experience in NXT, spending less than a year there but challenging for the NXT Women's Championship multiple times.

She was regularly featured but didn't get much of a spotlight until 2017-18, where her alliance with Alexa Bliss saw her gain some momentum. It would prove to be a long-term storyline and one that would surprisingly turn Nia Jax into one of the biggest babyfaces on the roster.

Her bullying storyline with Alexa Bliss would culminate at WrestleMania 34, where she dethroned Bliss' long-standing reign from the summer. However, her push lasted all but two to three months before she lost the title back to Alexa Bliss.

#2. Kofi Kingston

Out of all the short pushes on this list, this one was undoubtedly the sweetest of them all. It was the best babyface story WWE had going for them since 2014 when Daniel Bryan rose to the top and it was made all the better by the fact that he was the antagonist of the Kofi Kingston story.

Kofi Kingston is no stranger to Championship success in WWE, but he was never able to reach the top as many had hoped and expected him to do in 2009. It took a decade, an untimely injury to Mustafa Ali, and one opportunity in the gauntlet match to kickstart one of the most organic stories in years.

It culminated with him dethroning Daniel Bryan to win the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 35 - one of the best title victories. He made history, becoming the first African-American WWE Champion and the entire story captured the imagination of the WWE Universe.

He was booked as a strong Champion, holding the title for close to six months before losing it in ten seconds to Brock Lesnar. It was great while it lasted, but the push ended in the most disappointing way possible.

#1. Bray Wyatt (2016-2017)

Bray Wyatt was always a superstar whose character was his strongest suit. He was so good at it that fans found it hard to boo him despite being a heel most of the time. However, the problem always seemed to be that he would gain momentum - all up until a big match against a big superstar - where he would end up losing.

The term for such a role is that of a "Jobber to the stars" and that seemed to be the case until the summer of 2016, where he was drafted to SmackDown and was pinned only once in August before going on a rampage leading into 2017. He was pushed and protected and had a surprisingly good storyline with Randy Orton - an alliance that lasted him until WrestleMania season.

However, the most notable moment of that run was his fantastic WWE Championship win at Elimination Chamber 2017, where it seemed as though all the wrongs had been corrected by WWE.

However, his run lasted less than 50 days and he would end up losing the title to Randy Orton in an underwhelming WrestleMania match. It took him over two and a half years before he got back on top of the mountain - but he needed an entirely new character for that.